New, I say. Mr ____, can tell you, I don't like it at all. What is it to like? He get up on you, heist your nightgown round your waist, plunge in. Most times I pretend I ain't there. He never knows the difference. Never AST me how I feel, nothing. Just do his business, get off, go to sleep. She starts to laugh. Do his business, she says. Do his business. Why, Miss Celia. You make it sound like he's going to the toilet on you. That's what it feels like, I say. She stops laughing.

— Alice Walker

Sounds of depression remembering rejection Hope turns to despair black roses everywhere Keep hearing echoes voices in my mind repeating endless lies evil in disguise

— Diana Rasmussen

Survivors often develop an exaggerated need for control in their adult relationships. It’s the only way they feel safe. They also struggle with commitment—saying yes in a relationship means being trapped in yet another family situation where abuse might take place. So the survivor panics as her relationship gets closer, certain that something terrible is going to happen. She pulls away, rejects, or tests her partner all the time.

— Laura Davis

The bottom line was that I was in an abusive relationship.

— Shannon Celebi

There is so much that is still silent between Java and me. Perhaps we will talk more with time, or perhaps we never will be able to say it all, to clothe things in words, things that have long been naked.

— Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

The very first part in healing is shattering the silence,

— Erin Merryn

This book is dedicated to those who have died as a result of mind control and/or ritual abuse, and those who have lived when they would rather have died.

— Alison Miller

Victims”, by definition, are those that have just experienced a trauma of some sort. They are going through an entire array of emotions and circumstances that are happening to them internally and/or externally. They are trying to wrap their mind around what just happened to them. Furthermore, they are trying to regain some sort of balance in their mind. Furthermore, they feel violated, cheated, confused, scared, insecure, ashamed, guilty, impotent and at a loss for words/actions/thoughts. Many times, they even feel numb and in shock. Their mind is in a state of crisis and chaos. They are in the “victim stage”. They are truly a “victim” by definition.

— Melisa Mel

When I deny the seriousness of my abuse I agree with my abuser and those who wouldn't acknowledge it. When I am in denial, I have the tendency to minimize my abuse, believe the lies others have said, as well as deny it ever happened. It is important for me to remember as much detail as I can, so I can trust my own perceptions of what really happened and not depend on the validations from others.

— Patty Hite

While a psychiatric diagnosis can serve a purpose in treatment plans, it should not become a tool to discredit a person's disclosure of abuse.

— Lee Ann Hoff